Eli Berman
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Deity of the Circle
Date
February 7–May 30 2025
Location
David C. Driskell Center Gallery (College Park, MD)
Role
Instrument Builder / Performer / Composer
Medium
Multimedia Installation & Performance
"Sound Sculpture" (2025) 3ft x 3ft PVC pipes, EMT pipes, cotton & synthetic blend fabric, speaker wire. Created by Eli Berman in collaboration with Bonita Oliver. The sound sculpture is inspired by the pan-African Sankofa symbol, which means to return to or go back, as well as the silver Yad, a ceremonial pointer used to read Torah in Jewish prayer. In joining these symbols together through sculpture and sounds of the voice, the artists drawn upon the mystical Jewish practice of building golems, protective proto-robots made of clay that are brought to life with the magic of words like אמת (emet, Hebrew for “truth”).
Deity of the Circle is an installation and performance for three voices, clarinet, and electronics co-created by Bonita Oliver, Armond Dorsey, and Eli Berman.
Worship practices from African and Jewish diasporas inform the design of unique visual and musical storytelling objects made of metal, wood, fabric, microphones, speakers, and electrical circuits. A composite sound sculpture made of PVC and EMT pipes serves as an installation piece for the exhibit. On April 4th 2025, the artists will assemble this composite sculpture live during a 40-minute performance. They will attach handheld components of the sculpture to its base, placed at the center of the gallery, before playing the sculpture as a communal instrument. According to the trio, “Through our exhibition and performance, we hybridize new worship rituals for collectively grieving our historical traumas while illuminating the multidimensionality and timelessness of our human desire to connect with the past and future through cyclical time.”
Oliver, Dorsey, and Berman are the winners of the 2024–2025 David C. and Thelma G. Driskell Award for Creative Excellence. This award allows emerging artists or scholars to work with The Driskell Center’s collections and archives in self-directed research leading to the creation of new artistic work or scholarship. Now in its third cycle, the award this year called for a collaborative team to conduct a low-residency/remote fellowship culminating in a gallery installation and public program.
This project is made possible, in part, by The Thompson Award for Artistic Excellence in the Visual Arts Fund. It is also supported by the University of Maryland’s Arts for All initiative, the Meyerhoff Center for Jewish Studies, and the Department of African American and Africana Studies. It is also supported by the University of Maryland’s Arts for All initiative, the Meyerhoff Center for Jewish Studies, and the Department of African American and Africana Studies.
